Where I live I can look out onto a cut through road, this has never been iced, but I'm seeing people drive at normall speeds along it! I'm not being funny, but don't people have common sense in taking care on the road?!

the road has a rounded surface too so the centre is higher I cant think of the real term! but I'm worried some idiots gonna get loose their car and crash and block my road!!! :wonder:

maybe i'm over caution on driving on ice/snow but it must be a city thing or just coventry, because no one seems to know how to drive properly or safely!!

The camber of the road possibly ?

But the last sentence pretty much sums up how I feel about a majority of drivers. Driving seems to be such a chore to them, so why bother doing anything other than skating by with minimal skills and not a care in the world about the other peoples possessions (Car park dings).

The camber of the road possibly ?

But the last sentence pretty much sums up how I feel about a majority of drivers. Driving seems to be such a chore to them, so why bother doing anything other than skating by with minimal skills and not a care in the world about the other peoples possessions (Car park dings).

Camber! thats the one! Thanks

hmmm I'm just concerned why their being fools!! ah well so long as I'm not on the road with them!

Technically, it's the crown of the road.

And it's because people are stupid.

They'll never learn. Last time it snowed up here the traffic slowed but just bunched up. 6' gap nose to tail at 40-50mph for a couple of miles. Looked suicidal to me so I drove past the lot in the empty inside lane and felt much safer.

Seen too many accident when plonkers close up too much then panic and hit the brakes too hard before disappearing in a ditch.

Some drivers just never learn, they don't heed to the road conditions and are always in a hurry. Personally, I hate driving in the snow, it scares the living daylights out of me, I get scared I'm going to prang my car no matter how over cautious I am.

I think far to many people are relying on the built in safety aids (ABS, Traction control, airbags etc) to get them out of trouble, so they just carry on at usual speeds regardless of conditions.

Andy

Last night coming back from the Maidstone meet, M2, three lanes of light snow covering, inside lane the clearest. We're doing 40 to 50 on winter tyres. A 'Sport Ka' comes bowling down the outside lane at 80+! Then there was a car coming on to the A2 at 22.30 in blizzard conditions with no lights on!

Today, a chav in a jacked up Toyota Surf with roof mounted lights & massive wheels , fag in mouth, gets it sideways showing off to his female passenger & nearly wipes out my neighbours car!

Then we see some more chavs in a Ford Maverick launch the thing up a kerb, fly through the air, blast through a public green between the trees & then land back on the main road getting a big tank slapper on! I could go on! :rofl:

I think far to many people are relying on the built in safety aids (ABS, Traction control, airbags etc) to get them out of trouble, so they just carry on at usual speeds regardless of conditions.

Andy

May be part of it but many people, especially inexperience drivers, just don't think. They expect the roads to be gritted and/or their car to drive as normal.

You always hear radio report of people getting caught out on black ice - when it is -xC outside and they probably had to scrape the ice off the window before they set out. Stuff it through a fence then say they didn't expect ice!!.

Seems to be the total opposite round here. Slightest bit of snow and everyone was crawling along at 20mph

And also 4x4 drivers thinking they have more grip than they actually do ! Last night at about midnight as I was on my way home. Almost everyone being sensible on the motorway keeping distance and all in single file in the near side carriageway which was the only one not covered in white stuff.When in my rear view mirror was said 4x4 x5 in the snow covered fast lane closing in like an Exocet ! Just as he passed me his luck ran out and he exited stage left and dissappeared off the motorway just missing the front of my car! It wasn't safe for me to stop so I came off at next junction and phoned the emergency services who informed me they had already been informed and traffic officers were on the scene.I do hope driver and passenger are ok they sure had a worried look on their faces as they span uncontrollably past me.

And also 4x4 drivers thinking they have more grip than they actually do ! Last night at about midnight as I was on my way home. Almost everyone being sensible on the motorway keeping distance and all in single file in the near side carriageway which was the only one not covered in white stuff.When in my rear view mirror was said 4x4 x5 in the snow covered fast lane closing in like an Exocet ! Just as he passed me his luck ran out and he exited stage left and dissappeared off the motorway just missing the front of my car! It wasn't safe for me to stop so I came off at next junction and phoned the emergency services who informed me they had already been informed and traffic officers were on the scene.I do hope driver and passenger are ok they sure had a worried look on their faces as they span uncontrollably past me.

It's amazing how many 4x4 drivers feel invincible in snow, when all it really does is give you more traction to get going.

Braking and cornering are hardly effected. You go too fast, you still crash.

Last night the snow was really thick , I was in my wifes DS3 coming down a 20% hill with a sharp z bend to have an old peugeot 405 2 foot of my rear bumper. Went to the meet at whiby and just past goathland was an Astra which had left the road facing backwards in a dich minus front bumper

It's amazing how many 4x4 drivers feel invincible in snow, when all it really does is give you more traction to get going.

Braking and cornering are hardly effected. You go too fast, you still crash.

It's all down to tyres.

Any 4x4 on standard tyre will have more traction than a 2wd on standard tyres, but as said braking and cornering benefits are not great.

I have decent winter tyre on my Mazda 3 and I reckon its got pretty near as much traction as SWIMBO's CRV (standard tyres) and with definatly stop better.

A 4x4 on decent M&S tyre will go, stop and corner much better in snow.

On sheet ice it make no difference how many driven wheels you have if there is no grip there is no grip!

Either end on our road is a small but steep hill and this morning we had 3 different crashes due to people driving to fast and not able to slow down before the bend, total idiots and hope it costs them a fortune.

Been said before elsewhere, people in this country generally have no idea about driving in the snow or ice. Most are catious, some are very catious and others are just plain idiots. Always seems that any dusting of snow results in chaos. I have driven in bad winters for many years, don't think I am an expert but not scared by it, just by the other idiots on the road.

How much chaos was caused yesterday by people not adapting to the conditions, abandoning cars because the wheels started to spin or pushing their luck when they should have stayed at home? You would have thought that some lesons would have been learnt after last years fiasco. One day of snow that's all we have had, one day!! That said I reckon tomorrow will be worse with the snow starting to melt today and then freezing up tonight. I am dreading the drive to work as the idiots round by me are bad enough in the dry!

It's all down to tyres.

Agree that tyres can make a significant difference but so much is down to the driver. This is the first year I have put on winter tyres, mainly due to it being a small powerful car with standard tyres which are reported poor in just the wet. Only been stuck a handful of times in the past and always seen 4x4s stuck well before I got stuffed. Last year my old Furby estate put all the flash cars in my street to shame in getting up the road, a combination of front wheel drive and sensible driving not just flooring it! When I did get stuck I had the gear to sort myself out or the sense to get parked up in a safe place, not just abandon it in the middle of the road.

It's all down to tyres.

+1

last year, I didn't have winter tyres on the Beemer. Possibly one of the worst cars to drive in snow. I couldn't even make it up a gentle gradient without getting stuck. The auto box didn't help, switching down when traction was lost and making things worse. I even tried the flappy paddles to keep the gear in 2nd or 3rd, but to no avail, I wasn't going anywhere.

This year, I have Avon Ice Tourers on and the difference is like night and day. I went to work this morning at 6.30am on snowy impacted roads that hadn't had the chance to melt and there were no issues whatsoever. I came to a steep gradient and there was a taxi driver in a Skoda Octavia revving the nuts off it, fishtailing up the hill at 10 MPH. After about half a mile following him, getting sprayed with slush, I pulled out into the centre of the road which was still covered in thick snow, accelerated and overtook him with no traction lights flashing at me and carried on with steady progress. Snow tyres have been a revelation in this car for me.

Argh, drove to Heathrow today and drivers were appalling!

The number of drivers keeping on the 2nd most furthest lane doing 50 when theres occasional snow on the overtaking lane!

A few drivers who thought it was a bright sunny late afternoon (was actually snowing) and felt leaving LESS THAN half a car space following or moving into lane is ok!

Oh to top it off, there was a mk4 golf gti who apparently thought i was 'playing' with him in the snow? and attempting to show hes got bigger balls because he can cut up more people and be 3 car spaces in front, the shortly after keep at his cruising speed of less than mine..

No sympathy for anyone who drives like an idiot in this weather.They all need to have an accident then they,ll learn albeit the hard way.Sorry for my harshness but it really winces me off with these idiots out there.

In the snow last year I assisted in removing a BMW 3 Series from a ditch. The driver had managed to stick it there having come off a straight forward left hander (even in the snow), crossing three lanes of traffic (2 x oncoming) and booling straight onto the opposite verge.

Not only was the chap too dense to be able to follow the instructions we were giving him when it came to getting the car out of said ditch, his response to how this could have possibly occurred was "This shouldn't have happened, its got traction control".

That encounter pretty much sums up my view that 90% of drivers are ignorant of how to drive properly in poor conditions. For this reason I tend to tootle around at a very leisurely pace in conditions like these, keeping my beady eyes on everyone else around me.

It's all down to tyres.

No I think that's too simple. I've never had snow tyres (can't afford them) and I've never been stuck even last year when we had 24" of snow.

Tyres are going to help but if you drive like a tube in the snow you'll get bitten whatever tread you have. Drive smooth, keep your distance and plan ahead and you'll be surprised what your car will get you through.

I was watching the panic headlines on the news last night and most of the 'affected areas' had snow I wouldn't even consider being newsworthy.

4x4 has no more grip than an equivalent car, mongs don't seem to realise that. Has more traction however.

It's all down to tyres.

Any 4x4 on standard tyre will have more traction than a 2wd on standard tyres, but as said braking and cornering benefits are not great.

I have decent winter tyre on my Mazda 3 and I reckon its got pretty near as much traction as SWIMBO's CRV (standard tyres) and with definatly stop better.

A 4x4 on decent M&S tyre will go, stop and corner much better in snow.

On sheet ice it make no difference how many driven wheels you have if there is no grip there is no grip!

I did not know Marks and Spenser did tyres

No I think that's too simple.

Tyres are going to help but if you drive like a tube in the snow you'll get bitten whatever tread you have.

yeah.......ok.............I accept that point..